Improvement in portable writing-desks



C'. C. SHEPHERD. Portable Writing-Desk.

` No. 216,810. Patented .lune 24,1879.

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IUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

cHARLES c. SHEPHERD, or rASSAIo, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE WRITING-DESKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 216,810, dated June 24, 1879; application iilcd March 29, 1879.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. SHEP- BERD, of Passaic, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Portable Writing-Desks, of which the following is a specification.

Writing-desks have been made with inkbottles and screw-covers introduced into the deepest portion ofthe desk, and there has been a tray for pens, &c., between the two inkbottles.

The object of my present invention is to provide for raising the ink-bottles and tray above the surface of the desk into a more convenient position than that usually occupied by them, and simultaneously to Vuncover the bottles. The reverse movement lowers the bottles and tray back to place in the desk, and covers the bottles tightly, so as to prevent leakage.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the desk when open. Fig. 2 isa longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of the desk. Fig. 4 is a partial section through the ink-bottle when closed, and Fig. 5 is a section at the line w through the movableV calendar.

The bottom portion of the desk is formed of the sides a, ends b, bottom c, and Hap d.

` The top part of the desk is hinged at e to the bottom. It has the sides f, ends g, top h, and iiap t. These parts are of usual character, and the top can be closed over the bot tom portion and form a rectangular portable case.

The tray l is made of bottom, Sides, and end pieces, and it is separate from the other parts of the desk, instead of being stationary,

The cover n is hinged at o, and closes down over the tray, as seen in Fig. 4E; and there are buttons 3 upon the desk to hold down this cover when closed.

The segmentsrare preferably of sheet metal, attached to the two ends of the cover fn, and hence Swingin g up and down with it.

There are pins at s, that project inwardly from the segments r, and enter vertical slots at the ends of the tray l. These slots are in the middle and upper portions of the ends of the tray, so as to. suspend the same evenly, and the spring ends of the segments o" pass outwardly upon the top edges ot' the end pieces, b, of the desk, or upon the buttons 3,

so as to support the tray when it has been raised and suspended by the vpins s in the act of turning back the cover.

By pressing the spring ends of the segments r inwardly so as to clear the ends b of the desk, the tray can be lowered down into the position shown in Fig. 4., and at the Same time the cover a is closed. There are one or two ink-bottles in this tray, as at u, and these rest upon spring-bases c, and there are stopper-pieces 6, of india-rubber or similar material,

upon the under sides of the cover u; hence, as the parts are lowered, the stopper-pieces `6 close the mouths of the ink-bottles, and the springs beneath the ink-bottles, having been compressed in closing the cover, keep the said bottles firmly up against the elastic stopperpieces.

The slots in the ends of the tray allow of the cover to move downward after thetray touches on the bottom of the desk, and such tray is moved bodily toward the front of the desk by the pins as they move in the arc of a circle. 4

The calendar is inserted in the 11a-p d. It is made of a glass, upon the back of which are numbers from l to 31. Behind this glass is a slide having the days of the week, at the same distance apartas the numbers, and the slide can be moved so as to bring any day of the week to either of the day-numbers in the month, so that by bringing the day of the week to any number corresponding to the day of the month all the other weekdays will cor- CEAS. C. SHEPHERD.

Witnesses WILLIAM G. Mor'r, GEO. T. PINOKNEY, 

